So now he’s referring to plans that don’t even exist?

(Daily Caller) — White House press secretary Jay Carney said Thursday that President Obama’s debt ceiling plan is the best-known option at this point. There’s just one problem with that: No publicly available, detailed Obama plan exists.

“There is no plan that has been offered, certainly in the last several months, about which more detail is known or has been specified than the Obama-Boehner plan, okay, in terms of the cuts in domestic spending, both defense and non-defense discretionary; the savings coming out of entitlements programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security; the kind of tax reform that was envisioned and the mechanisms by which tax revenue would be a hard thing for Republicans to accept but was part of the deal — that would be $800 billion, that would be part of this proposal,” Carney said.

After learning of Carney’s declaration of confidence in his boss’s plan, Senate Republicans struck back at Obama. In a web posting, the Senate GOP asked of Carney’s statement: “Where is the CBO score? Where is the text? Where is the plan?”

Keep reading…

This woman can lie like it’s a natural body function.

(Politico) — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi dialed up the rhetoric before Speaker John Boehner’s plan to raise the debt limit heads to the House floor for a vote, declaring it a “job-killer” and saying seniors could “kiss their Medicare good-bye.”

“If you believe in that the education of our children, the retirement of our seniors, the creation of jobs in a fiscally sound way, you couldn’t possibly vote for the bill that the Republicans are bringing to the floor today,” Pelosi said Thursday.

The speaker’s legislation, which slashes $917 billion over 10 years and increases the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt limit in two increments, is scheduled for a House vote on Thursday night.

Calling McCain a “troll” is an insult to trolls.

(Politico) — The “Lord of the Rings” metaphors crept into the debt-limit fight on Thursday, as tea-party heroes fired back at Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) who mocked members of the conservative grassroots movement as “tea-party hobbits.”

“I’d rather be a hobbit than a troll,” freshman Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on a conference call when asked by POLITICO about McCain’s remarks. “I think in reading the books, the hobbits were the heroes. They overcame great obstacles, and I think I’d rather be a hobbit than a troll.”

Quoting from a Wall Street Journal editorial, McCain said “tea-party hobbits” were mistaken to think that if Republicans refuse to raise the debt ceiling and the government defaults on its loans, President Barack Obama would get the blame.

(click image for video)

Coming from the White House’s official crybaby.

(RCP) — From today’s back-and-forth between FOX News’ Ed Henry and White House press secretary Jay Carney.

Carney says the GOP is being “incredibly juvenile” for trying to force his plan through the Congress to the President’s desk. Carney claims they are “trying to stick the President with default.”

Carney calls the House GOP proposal “more Draconian” than the [Rep. Paul] Ryan budget bill.

Speechless.

Via Weekly Standard:

Nancy Pelosi on today’s vote: “What we’re trying to do is save the world from the Republican budget. We’re trying to save life on this planet as we know it today.”

Why? What’s so great about life on this planet as we know it today? Let liberals defend the status quo. We conservatives seek to improve life on this planet. If I could paraphrase Bobby Kennedy: There are those, like Nancy Pelosi, who look at things the way they are, and ask why. We dream of things that never were — like reducing domestic discretionary spending, year over year — and ask why not!

Or, to paraphrase another of Pelosi’s predecessors: The liberals only interpret the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.

Just heard this on Rush. Remember all of Obama’s grandstanding on how Congress must get its fiscal house in order — How Congress will have to pay for what it spends — How the US must live within our means?

I would ask why Boehner doesn’t hold Obama to his word but I know the answer to that question.

Transcript below the fold.

(more…)

Very cool.

(AFP) — Israel and the newly independent country of South Sudan have established diplomatic relations, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

“The cooperation between the states will be based on the firm foundations that guide them in forming friendly ties, out of equality and mutual respect,” Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement.

The Jewish state does not have relations with Khartoum, which it has accused of serving as a base for Islamic militants, and has instead supported the rebel movement of the mainly Christian and animist south in its decades of struggle against the government in the mostly Muslim north.

The practical aspects of the new relationship, including the appointment of ambassadors, would be discussed in the near future, the statement noted.

The South Sudanese government made a parallel announcement in the capital, Juba, to a delegation of Israeli diplomats in the city, the ministry said.

Interesting fact from the Jerusalem Post:

Israel recognized the world’s newest nation the day after the establishment of South Sudan on July 9. Channel 10 said that on the day of independence, revelers in Juba waved Israeli flags as a gesture of thanks to Israel for providing South Sudanese citizens with aid during the many years of bloody civil war against their northern neighbor Sudan.

If this is the best Team Obama can come up with, then they’re screwed.

(WaPo) — With the debate heavily focused on comparisons of the spending cuts in the Harry Reid and John Boehner proposals, the fact that Boehner’s approach would put us all through another bruising debt ceiling debate in six months has not received the attention Democrats had hoped for.

So the White House is circulating a new set of talking points to outside allies and surrogates, instructing them on a new way to make this case: If Boehner has his way, the debt ceiling debate will steal Christmas.

Here are the key bits from the talking points, which were sent over by a source:

* Today, the House will vote on Speaker Boehner’s proposal, but that vote does nothing to move the country closer to a solution.

On MSNBC this morning, top Obama adviser David Plouffe made a similar claim, pointing out that the Boehner plan would ensure that “this whole debt ceiling spectacle” will be “repeated again a few montsh from now over the holidays.”

* To be clear: This bill is dead on arrival in the Senate and there is zero chance this makes it to the President’s desk. . .

* Under the Boehner bill, we will be right back into this debate during the holiday season, which is the most important time in the year for our economy.

* Rather than compromising for the sake of the country, the House GOP continues to play politics with the full faith and credit of the United States — even saying that their strategy is to tell the country to “take it or leave it” and blame the President for default.

“The debt ceiling debate would ruin Christmas,” Plouffe said. He was apparently ad-libbing the line, but now it’s found its way into the White House’s official talking points.

Slow-motion train wreck.

(Daily Beast) — With two months remaining until early parliamentary elections, a new Newsweek/Daily Beast poll shows clearly and unambiguously that the political climate in Egypt is moving in a new direction that is inimical to American and allied interests — notwithstanding the billions of dollars in aid that the United States continues to provide.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest Islamist group, is poised to win the largest share of the vote in parliamentary elections; the man who appears to have a clear shot at the presidency, Amr Moussa, has made his name criticizing Israel; and a large majority of respondents favor amending or revoking the cornerstone of regional stability, the Camp David Accords.

This poll encompassed 1,008 randomly selected Egyptian adults from 19 Egyptian governorates between June 24–July 4, 2011 — it was conducted by Douglas E. Schoen LLC and Thawrastats on behalf of Newsweek/The Daily Beast, and has a margin of sampling error of +/-3.5 percent.

The antipathy to their neighbor the north was palpable. Only 3 percent of those surveyed had a positive impression of Israel, only 2 percent said Israel cares about Egypt’s interests and a mere 1 percent said Israel had responded to the recent revolution in a positive way. This has repercussions on the linchpin of regional stability, the Camp David Accords: 70 percent want to amend or cancel them, while only 17 percent want to keep them as is.

Keep reading…

Shockingly, the Russians are defending their favorite American doormats from Republican challengers.

(The Cable) — A top Russian official today called Sens. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) “radicals” and “monsters of the Cold War” and warned that the U.S.-Russia relationship would collapse if Republicans came to power.

Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s ambassador to NATO, met with Kyl and Kirk yesterday in Washington — but they probably won’t be meeting again anytime soon. After the meeting, Rogozin let loose on the senators in an extensive interview with the Russian news service RIA Novosti, and sought to warn the Russian public of what he sees as the dangers of a return to Republican rule in America.

Rogozin accused the two senators of threatening to scuttle the U.S.-Russia reset by stalling or attacking U.S.-Russian cooperation on several issues, such as nuclear arms control and missile defense.

“Today in the Senate, I met with Senators Jon Kyl and Mark Kirk. The meeting is very useful because it shows that the alternative to Barack Obama is a collapse of all the programs of cooperation with Russia,” he said. “Today, I had the impression that I was transported in a time machine back several decades, and in front of me sat two monsters of the Cold War, who looked at me not through pupils, but targeting sights.”

Keep reading…

The bullshit meter is off the charts.

(RCP) — In the same thought White House press secretary Jay Carney claims they are not playing politics, but then says the White House is “winning” politically.

“On the suggestion that this is about politics, I don’t think anybody in this room that’s looked at a poll could argue with the idea that we’re winning this argument on the merits as a political matter. But you know what? The President is not here to win political arguments. He’s here to make sure the economy is protected and the American people are protected. This is too serious of a matter,” Carney said.

Video here…

The debt-ceiling deadline is August 2, one day before the party. But everything should be a-okay as long as everyone remembers that it’s all about him.

(Examiner) — President Barack Obama is celebrating his 50th birthday in Chicago on Wednesday, August 3, 2011. The president’s birthday is technically on August 4, but the landmark bash is scheduled for the 3rd at the Aragon Ballroom in Uptown Chicacgo.

The event includes dinner with the president and a concert featuring Chicago native Jennifer Hudson, OK Go and Herbie Hancock. The doors open at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 3, 2011.

The birthday bash is also a fundraiser for Obama’s fund for his 2012 Presidential campaign. General admission seats are $200, but an upgraded VIP section is available for $1,000, on the Donate/Obama website.

The Aragon Ballroom, located at 1106 West Lawrence Avenue in Chicago, is a historic venue, built in 1926.

The birthday bash for Obama comes on the heels of the unresolved controversy about the national debt. Obama spoke in a rare prime-time address on July 25, 2011, in Washington D.C., urging passage on as increase of the national debt ceiling.

For those of you keeping track at home, this is the second time in two days Clyburn has urged Obama to invoke the 14th Amendment.

(Politico) — Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) cited major civil rights victories as examples of successful presidential executive orders as evidence President Barack Obama should invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling if Congress fails to do so.

“He could do that [an executive order] with a stroke of a pen. We have seen many big things done in history that way,” Clyburn said on MSNBC’s “Jansing & Co.” “I was joking to my staff the other day: ‘Tell me the bill number for the Emancipation Proclamation.’ It was an executive order. We integrated the armed services by executive order. We integrated the public schools by executive order. Sometimes executives must order that things get done.”

Clyburn added, “If the president gets up to Aug. 2 without a piece of legislation, he shoud not allow this country to go into default. He should sign an executive order invoking the 14th Amendment and send that to all the governmental agencies for us to continue to pay our bills.”

Obama administration officials, and the president himself, have said they will not invoke the 14th Amendment. And Clyburn’s remarks came after some tea party Republicans, in particular Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), said Obama should be impeached if he were to use the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling.

The 40 Americans who have travelled to Somalia to fight alongside Al-Shabaab beg to differ.

(CNS News) — Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) downplayed the threat posed to the U.S. by a Somalia-based terror group, despite a new report showing that as many as 40 Somali-American Muslims have been recruited and trained by al-Shabaab.

“Al Shabaab does not appear to present any danger to this homeland,” Thompson said Wednesday at a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee. He acknowledged that the “intelligence community sees a need to monitor Al Shabaab’s activities,” but he said “vigilance must be in direct proportion to the probability and likelihood of the threat.”

At part of the hearing, the committee’s Republican staff — led by Chairman Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) — released a report that details al-Shabaab’s activities in the United States, including the recruitment and training of 40 Somali-Americans, 21 of whom are still unaccounted for after traveling to that east African nation.

Republicans committee staffers described Al-Shabaab as “al-Qaeda’s major ally in East Africa.”

No threat?

MOGADISHU, Somalia — The militant group al-Shabab said the man who carried out a suicide bomb attack on a base in Mogadishu this week was a Somali-American, and an official said Thursday that separate clashes with militants in Somalia’s capital left at least 17 civilians dead.

Al-Shabab said on its website Thursday that a 25-year-old man named Abdullahi Ahmed was the suicide bomber who attacked an African Union peacekeeping base in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, on Monday, killing two AU troops and one government soldier.

Ahmed was said to have moved to Somalia from Minnesota two years ago.

The Internet report purported to quote Ahmed before his death saying that he wanted to carry out the attack because of abuses by Christians of Muslim countries.

(Washington Examiner) — Rep. Mike Pence, the conservative congressman from Indiana, told reporters today he was a “yes” on House Speaker John Boehner’s plan to raise the debt limit.

To help win him and other Republicans over, leadership agreed to hold two votes on the Balanced Budget Amendment on Friday. One would be the more recent version, which has a supermajority requirment for tax increases. The other would be what Pence described as a “clean” or “historical” version, which would not have that supermajority requirement. The latter is the version that nearly passed in the 1990s.

Pence said while his preference would be the more recent amendment, he would still support the other one because it has a “fighting chance” of getting 290 votes in the House and the 67 votes in the Senate required to send it to the states for ratification.

He said he decided, “in good faith, we ought to play it straight,” and give Democrats the chance to vote for a BBA they could support.

Shady.

(Wall Street Pit) — FOX Business Network’s Charlie Gasparino reports that “the White House is trying to prod the rating agencies to accept the Reid plan, which gives them political cover,” while saying “Boehner’s plan creates political uncertainty.” Excerpts from the report are below, courtesy of Fox Business Network.

On rating agencies being pressured by the White House to endorse a budget plan:

“Sources close to the rating agencies are saying that the White House is trying to get the rating agencies to endorse a certain plan. The White House is trying to prod the agencies to accept the Reid plan, which gives them political cover. They’re trying to say Boehner’s plan creates political uncertainty in the market because it’s two increases.

Where we stand as of 10:45 a.m. EST.

Via Zero Hedge:

Below is the latest soap opera update per Bloomberg:

• House can pass Boehner debt-limit proposal without the support of no more than 23 of chamber’s 240 Republicans; 17 have said they will vote “no,” according to Bloomberg count.
• US House of Representatives tentatively scheduled to vote on Boehner debt bill between 5.45-6.15 PM EDT
• Measure needs 217 “yes” votes to pass.
• No Democrats have said they will support the plan.
• Vote expected around 6 p.m.
• House Republicans meeting this morning at 9 a.m.
• Reid has said measure will not pass Senate and Obama has threatened veto.

Al Gore hardest hit (he frequently cited this study).

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal wildlife biologist whose observation in 2004 of presumably drowned polar bears in the Arctic helped to galvanize the global warming movement has been placed on administrative leave and is being investigated for scientific misconduct, possibly over the veracity of that article.

Charles Monnett, an Anchorage-based scientist with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or BOEMRE, was told July 18 that he was being put on leave, pending results of an investigation into “integrity issues.” But he has not yet been informed by the inspector general’s office of specific charges or questions related to the scientific integrity of his work, said Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

On Thursday, Ruch’s watchdog group plans to file a complaint with the agency on Monnett’s behalf, asserting that Obama administration officials have “actively persecuted” him in violation of policy intended to protect scientists from political interference.

Monnett, who has coordinated much of the agency’s research on Arctic wildlife and ecology, has duties that include managing about $50 million worth of studies, according to the complaint, a copy of which was provided to The Associated Press.

The complaint seeks Monnett’s reinstatement along with a public apology from the agency and inspector general. It also seeks to have the investigation dropped or to have the charges specified and the matter carried out in accordance with policy. The complaint also says that investigators took Monnett’s computer hard drive, notebooks and other unspecified items from him, which have not been returned.

(The Hill) — President Obama would be functioning effectively as a “dictator” if he invoked the 14th amendment to the Constitution to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said Thursday.

Bachmann assailed the possible use of an executive order by the president to authorize increased borrowing power, a tactic that’s been encouraged by some congressional Democrats to defuse a stalemate in debt ceiling negotiations.

“Congress has the power to lay and collect taxes. It’s Congress that does the spending,” Bachmann said on CNN. “The president is prohibited to do that. If he had the power to do that he would effectively be a dictator.”

That’s the kind of strong charge that’s made Bachmann a beloved figure on the right, but has also fueled some primary opponents’ attacks against her. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), for instance, accused Bachmann earlier this week of having a history of “saying things that are off the mark.”

Obama has said his administration has evaluated the possibility of using the 14th amendment to raise the debt limit, but that they’re unconvinced such a maneuver would be upheld by courts.

Sheila Jackson Lee unavailable for comment.

(Fox News) — At least one U.S. military serviceman has been arrested after raising concerns over another possible attack on Fort Hood, Fox News has learned exclusively.

Pvt. Nasser Jason Abdo, an AWOL soldier from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was arrested by the Killeen Police Department near Fort Hood and remains in custody there. Authorities, however, will not say if Abdo is the one who raised security concerns.

Bob Jenkins, a Fort Campbell spokesman, told Fox News that Abdo was being investigated for child pornography found on his government computer.

Abdo went AWOL on July 4. On the eve of his first deployment to Afghanistan — after only one year in the Army — Abdo applied for conscientious objector status. It was denied by his superiors at Ft. Campbell but later overturned by the Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Army review board.

Another source told Fox News that two other U.S. soldiers also raised possible concerns. Authorities have recovered weapons and possibly explosive materials, Fox News was told.

It remains unclear if any possible plot to attack Ft. Hood was merely aspirational in nature.

On Nov. 5, 2009, Maj. Nidal Hasan, an American Army officer, carried out a shooting attack on the Fort Hood base in Texas that killed 13 people and wounded 30 others.